Britain's nuclear warheads will be upgraded, document suggests

The Government is planning to upgrade its stockpile of nuclear warheads at an
estimated cost of more than £3 billion, it has been reported.

By Lucy Cockcroft

12:48AM BST 25 Jul 2008

A senior Ministry of Defence official told a private gathering of arms manufacturers that the decision to replace the warheads had already been taken, according to documents released under the freedom of Information Act.

In June last year David Gould, the then chief operating officer at the Defence Equipment and Support Organisation, made the announcement at a future deterrent industry event.

He said: "This afternoon we are going to outline our plan to maintain the UK's nuclear deterrent.

"The intention is to replace the entire Vanguard class submarine system. Including the warhead and missile."

The statement is in contradiction to previous assertions made by ministers.

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They have always denied that there are plans to replace the warheads as part of the upgrade of the Trident nuclear system, and insisted that no decision would be made until the next parliament, probably sometime after 2010.

Kate Hudson, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: "It is a disgrace that the MoD is secretly telling the defence industry one thing, whilst ministers are saying quite the opposite in Parliament."

However, the MoD have said the document was a "speaking note" and not a speech, and insisted that it did not reflect government policy.